A tank for treating fibers

ABSTRACT

A working tank for treating fibers has distributor means located along the inner wall of said working tank to provide a flow extending substantially at right angles to sleeves consisting of rolled fibers and located inside the tank.

i 0 United States Patent 1151 3,638,458 Libbrecht Feb. 1, l 972 [54]TANK FOR TREATING FIBERS [561 References Cited [72] Inventor: PierreLibbrecht, Toumai, Belgium ITE ES PATENTS 1 Assignw Teimurerie desFrancs; Tburcoing, Fran- 1,567,568 12/1925 Brandwood et a] ..68/I89 ce apart interest I 22] led: N 0 1969 219 8 F ORSIICZN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 37 10 G ..68 I89 211 App]. 110.; 878,395 "many a PrimaryExarniner-William L. Price [30] Foreign Application Priority Data AtmmeyRlchards & Ge'er Nov. 22, 1968 Belgium ..724,29l [57] ABSTRACT A workingtank for treating fibers has distributor means [52] U.S. Cl 1:; locatedalong the inner wall of said working tank to provide a [51] Il'lt. Cl. Cflow extending substantially at right angles to Sleeves consist [58]Fleid 0 Search ..8/154, 155, 155. I 155.2, g ofrolled fibers and locatedinside the tank 1 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 7 I r -J E E fi Z |-==='E E1 PATENTEBFEB mm. 16383158;

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INVIiN'l'OR.

By P- Lllbbrec/vb ATTOILNGg A TANK FOR TREATING FIBERS The copendingpatent application Ser. No. 759,291 described a process for dyeing andtreating natural, artificial and synthetic threads and fibers,comprising using fibers to be treated which are rolled relativelyloosely in the form of a sleeve, placing and supporting at least onesleeve in a substantially horizontal working tank, while maintaining theoriginal homogeneity of said sleeve, with the axis of the sleevesubstantially parallel to that of the tank, and circulating in the tanka treatment bath or baths.

This patent application describes an installation for carrying out thisprocess, such installation comprising at least one substantiallyhorizontal working tank provided with internal means to supportaforesaid sleeves, these means extending substantially parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the tank.

In the practical form of embodiment described in said patentapplication, the installation includes a working tank to one end ofwhich is connected a bath inlet pipe, a bath outlet pipe being alsoconnected to said tank, both these pipes being connected to'a reversiblepump.

In thisembodiment, the tubular material holder has a perforatedcylindrical wall and is directly connected to aforesaid bath inlet pipe.Such an embodiment is acceptable for an experimental apparatus in whichthe material holder consists of one perforated tube carrying thesleeves. However, as will always be the case in practice, aforesaidpatent application provides for the possibility of placing,'within theworking tank, a plurality of such tubular perforated material holders.It has since then appeared that, in such a case, the circulating circuitfor the dyeing bath, such as described in said patent application, doesnot seem to give the best results.

The object of the present invention is to provide improvements toaforesaid circulating circuit for the dyeing bath,

more particularly in industrial installations comprising working tankshaving a plurality of perforated tubular holders for rows of sleeves tobe treated.

The improvements consist in locating within the working tank between therows of sleeves, respectively between the perforated tubular holders foraforesaid rows of sleeves and the cylindrical inner wall of said tank,distributor means for the treatment bath, such means being preferablyfed from a common source. In a practical form of embodiment, aforesaidmeans comprise distributor pipes connected to a common distribution ringwhich is concentric with the working tank and to which is connected theinlet pipe for the bath. In such embodiment, the outlet pipe for thebath is connected to one of the ends of the treatment vessel, generallythat end which is adjacent to or nearest to aforesaid distribution ring,said pipes being connected to a reversible pump.

These features may be embodied under different shapes and withessentially variable dimensions according to the quantity and the natureof the textile materials to be treated.

Whatever the embodiment, the characteristic location of aforesaiddistributor means allows to achieve a favorable circulation of the bath,within the working tank, due to the fact that, in either direction offiow, the circulation will be directed perpendicularly to the sleeveswhich, are thus not submitted to harmful strains by the circulatingbaths.

A further feature of the present invention consists, in order to assurea uniform distribution of the treatment baths to all the sleeves, inproviding their tubular holders with perforations at varying spaces andof varying dimensions, for instance degressing.

These and other features of the present improvements are describedhereafter in greater detail with reference to the appended drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 schematically shows a simplified application, to a plurality ofrows of sleeves, of the treatment bath circulation circuit such asprovided in the patent application Ser. No. 759,291;

FIG. 2 is a similar view to that of FIG. I but schematically shows theimprovements according to the present invention;

plication of the improvements according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows on a large scale, a head-on view in the direction of arrowP5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 schematically shows an installation comprising a plurality ofworking tanks;

FIGS. 7 and 8 show an alternative embodiment of the bulb vesselsindicated by F8 in FIG. 6.

In FIG. 1 a working tank I is shown having at the center of one of itsends 2, an inlet 3 for the treatment bath and, at a small distance fromthis inlet, an outlet 4 for the bath. In aforesaid vessel 1 a certainnumber of holders 5 are located for supporting rows of sleeves 6.

The flow of the treatment bath within the tank is indicated by thearrows. It can be seen that the general flow of the bath has atangential aspect or is longitudinal with respect to the sleeves 6,which is prejudicial not only to the correct position and to thehomogeneity of the latter, but also the efficiency of the treatmentbath.

The improvements according to the present invention are shownschematically in FIG. 2, which also shows a working tank 1 and aplurality of perforated holders 5 for the rows of sleeves 6. Accordingto the present improvements, a distribution ring 7 is fixed near one end2 of aforesaid working tank 1 and is connected to a certain number ofdistributor pipes 8 located near the inner wall of aforesaid tank andparallel to aforesaid rows of sleeves 6.

Contrary to the disposition schematically shown in FIG. I, theperforated holders 5 are connected to the output pipe 9 while the inletpipe 10 is connected to the distribution ring 7, close to aforesaid end2. Pipes 9 and 10 are connected to a reversible pump (not shown).

In FIG. 2, the bath flow is also shown by means of arrows. A comparisonwith FIG. 1 immediately shows the modification brought to the flow ofthe baths and in the efficiency of same.

In FIGS. 3 to 5, which relate to a form of embodiment similar to thatschematically shown in FIG. 2, the same references refer to the same orto equivalent elements.

In FIG. 6 a complex installation is schematically shown, comprising aplurality of working tanks 1 which can be conditioned as previouslydescribed. The various outlets 9 are connected to pipes ll, l2, 13, 14leading into a bulb vessel 15. Similarly the treatment bath inlets 10are connected by means of pipes 16, 17, l8, 19 leading into a secondbulb vessel 20. Aforesaid bulb vessels l5 and 20 are themselvesinterconnected by means of pipes 21, 22, 23, 24, by pumps 25 and 26.Aforesaid bulb-vessels I5 and 20 may be of any appropriate shape and maybe shaped, for instance, as schematically shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Sucharrangements are obviously of secondary importance, the main object ofthe present invention being concerned with the flow direction of thebath in the working tanks as previously described.

What I claim is:

l. A cylindrical tank for treating fibers loosely rolled into aplurality of sleeves located within the tank parallel to itslongitudinal axis and spaced from its inner walls, said tank comprisinga hollow ring mounted upon said tank close to one end thereof, aplurality of pipes located within said tank and extending parallel tosaid sleeves, said pipes having ends communicating with said ringthrough openings formed in the tank and side openings, said ring havingan opening receiving a treating liquid which flows through said pipesand reaches said sleeves through said side openings, substantiallyperpendicularly to said longitudinal axis, and hollow holders locatedwithin said tank and engaging the ends of said sleeves, said tank havingother openings communicating with said hollow holders for the outflow ofsaid treating liquid.

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